RFUK-DEBATE: “DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION: ARE WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK”?

Efforts to conserve forests, such as through REDD in DRC and the wider Congo Basin, are largely premised on increasingly contested deforestation analyses that point to subsistence ‘slash and burn‘ agriculture and charcoal production as the main underlying drivers of deforestation. Meanwhile, community forestry and similar approaches to forest protection that have proven effective elsewhere in the tropics have been largely peripheral.

A growing number of studies are starting to challenge the received wisdom around deforestation in the Central Africa region and more particularly DRC. Drawing on improved data and analysis, a much more nuanced picture is emerging concerning the underlying drivers of deforestation, regrowth linked to rotational farming, the forest-farming dynamics of the ‘rural complex’, the downstream impacts of industrial logging as well as huge local, regional and temporal variations in forest loss. These suggest that the current policy approaches and some large programmes may need to be reconsidered, and new approaches developed instead.

CBFP News

Illegal logging and the illicit timber trade thrive when legal frameworks, rights and benefits are unclear and complex to enforce. Transparency is therefore at the heart of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) and over the last decade, countries implementing or negotiating a VPA have made important advances in processing, collecting, monitoring and publishing information on the forest sector and related activities.

Under the Distinguished Patronage of His Excellency Mr. Idriss Deby Itno, President of the Republic of Chad,.. Co-Chair: Minister of State François-Xavier de Donnea, Facilitator of the Kingdom of Belgium of the CBFP,... The Facilitation of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) provided by the Kingdom of Belgium, the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) and the government of the Republic of Chad will be hosting a conference...

This video focuses on the AF’s pioneering effective actions on the ground based on its three strategic pillars of Innovation, Action and Learning and Sharing. The Fund’s collaborative efforts with its implementing partners that lead to wider changes in the project regions are highlighted, along with its important role in serving for the Paris Agreement. AF projects beneficiaries, implementing partners and secretariat staffs share their views and experiences on the work of the Fund.

The Global Landscapes Forum Bonn 2018 is in session this weekend, 1–2 December, at the World Conference Center in its namesake German city. In light of the numerous recent and alarming reports – the IPCC Special Report on the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the UN Environment report on the still-growing emissions gap, the U.S. National Climate Report on predicted impacts coming to light sooner than expected – a palpable current of anxiety in the face of an uncertain climate future underpinned the Forum’s first day.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) defines biodiversity as “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems.”

Rising global demand for responsibly produced agricultural commodities means that businesses and governments in producing regions, as well as in consuming markets, are increasingly putting sustainability commitments on their agendas.

The GEF has positioned itself as one of the main funders for biodiversity conservation in Africa, with a robust portfolio of 380 projects worth $1.27 billion of Biodiversity and leveraging $7 billion in co-financing.This publication summarizes GEF’s projects and investments in Africa over the last 27 years, and provides examples of successful or unique projects in the GEF’s different thematic areas: protected areas, mainstreaming of biodiversity in the productive sector, wildlife conservation, fisheries, the Nagoya Protocol, the Cartagena Protocol, and the Small Grants Program.